Stock Photo - 15 September 2022, Saxony, Mügeln: Martin Dulig (SPD, l), Minister of Economics and Mining in Saxony, leaves a bucket wheel excavator at the Schleben-Crellenhain open pit mine of Kemmlitz Kaolin Works. The open pit mine produces 1,500 tons of white clay per day. After extraction, the raw material kaolin is then industrially processed in the kaolin plant. Kaolin is required in various areas of the ceramics industry for the manufacture of different products. Until now, companies purchased large quantities of the raw material from Ukraine and Russia. With the start of the war in February, both producers largely ceased to exist. In this respect, Saxon kaolin is becoming more and more important and is increasingly in high demand. The Kemmlitz kaolin works are part of Quarzwerke Frechen, a family-owned company near Cologne that has been in existence for 139 years. Photo: Hendrik Schmidt/dpa. - Mügeln/Saxony/Germany